South Africa And The Islamic Faith

The lower part of Africa below the Sahara, that area was never really isolated but it was hard and difficult to contact. Between 800 and 1500 C.E the contact with the “outside world” grew intensely.

For this paper, I have chosen to interview an acquaintance of mine who is a devote Muslim and follower of Islam. For the sake of this assignment I will be referring to him under the pseudonym of Jack. I spoke with Jack about some wide-ranging topics discussing things such as, media, bias, stereotypes, and really in general what being a follower of Islam is like in this divided country right now. In our country, today it’s pretty apparent there is a type of fear of Muslims, so much so that 7 heavy populated Muslim countries are not permitted from entering the United States of America. I never had conversations as personal as this with Jack and I feel as if I gained a lot of insight into the types of things minorities, and especially Muslims

The conversion of Africa to Islam is known as one of the most important transformations of precolonial Africa. The spread of Islam in Africa can be credited to its regard for neighborhood societies. Muslims didn't drive Africans to change over to Islam and endured changes over joining components of indigenous religions with Islam. The Arabs additionally brought training and set up great focuses of learning in Cairo and Timbuktu. The feeling of fellowship between Muslims likewise fit well with the African feeling of group, and their faith in tending to the less lucky has affected various African people group. The spread of Islam also led to Swahili Urban Development, State Formation and an overall new way of life.

On February 24, 2017, Dr. Shaun Casey was the Global Religious Studies keynote speaker at Bridgewater State University. Dr. Casey’s focus was to bring greater understanding of world religions

On December 1, I attended a program called “Stories of Black Muslims in America” sponsored by Damietta Cross Cultural Center. As a white Muslim, I haven’t experienced any racism toward my skin color so it was interesting to see how black Muslims in America have embraced both sides of their identity. “Black” and “Muslim” are terms often not associated with one another. In fact, most Americans have a hard time understanding the concept.

Edward Curtis IV is Millennium Chair of the Liberal Arts and Professor of Religious Studies at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. Curtis is also founding co-editor of the Journal of Africana Religions. Edward Curtis’s credentials include a B.A., Kenyon College, 1993. M.A., Washington University in St. Louis, 1997. D.Litt et Phil., University of South Africa, 2000. Curtis does not seem to endorse or show any bias towards any one particular group or person. The main topics in the book only seem to analyze Muslims around the world as a whole and how they interact with other each and other religious groups around the

She always dreamt of building her own mosque one day. Growing up, Hasna had a wonderful experience attending the mosque with her family. However, over time, she became aware of gender disparities that no embodied the spirit of inclusivity she longed for. Upon the completion of her education at University of California Berkeley and University of Southern California, Hasna decide to begin the initiative for a women’s mosque that would highlight and empower female scholars. “According to a Gallup Poll, Muslim women are the second most educated female religious demographic in America,” said Hasna. She began by documenting her ideas, gathering support by giving talks on the need for the space, and held a townhall meeting to gather opinions address concerns. With a board forming and the help of the Pico Union Project, the women were able to organize their first Jumah prayer, led by Edina Lakovic, on January 30th, 2015. Being a highly acclaimed speaker, “her involvement has brought a lot of attention to the mosque” Hasna

The speech by Dan Corrou; Called to be companions: The middle east through a Jesuit Lens. Was remarkable, the speech was a perfect description of how people from different communities, cultures, and religious backgrounds managed to put away their differences and look to their similarities to attempt to build a better community, and their tolerance and acceptance, as well as their unselfish ambitions to better and aid the middle east, describes exactly what we as a community must aspire to be like. Dan Corrou clearly showed what it is to be a Jesuit and helped open my eyes to better understand what it is exactly they do and are about. His travels across the middle east, yet being an American and his encounters with people of different faiths, Islam in particular due to the geographic location.

Imperialism is when a country extends their control over foreign countries to obtain land that is beneficial to them and this happens in the form of colonies. Many European countries colonized South Africa because of its abundance of many resources that they wanted. The imperialism in South Africa had both positive and negative impacts to different racial groups. While the Europeans benefited the original occupants were oppressed. Through the apartheid, which is racial segregation, black people were separated from each other, they lost political and economic power, and were forcibly removed from their land.

800-1500 C.E. Byzantium and Islamic contact outside of Africa increased with assistance from changes in social, religious and technology

The Respect for Sacred vs. Freedom of Speech discussion was a very eye opening event. Mediating was director of Niagara Foundation Murat Gurer with a panel consisting of Dr. Peter Haas, Dr. Zeki Saritoprak, and Dr. David Odell-Scott. Dr. Haas represented the Jewish point of view, Dr. Saritoprak the Islamic, and Dr. Odell-Scott the Christian. It was pointed out at the beginning that dialogue is crucial to interfaith meetings and that is why a discussion is necessary in this sort of sacred context.

Religion in the broadest sense may be defined as man's attitude towards the unseen, and the earliest forms of human thought furnish the clue from which must be traced the development of those great systems of religion that have at different time periods been professed by certain groups of people. The term religion must also include, not only beliefs in unseen spiritual agencies, but numerous customs, superstitions, and myths which have usually been regarded by the people of the specific society or community. As far as, Zulu religion goes, there are many different opinions about the origin and historical content. Since many of the beliefs and traditions were passed orally, there are no written records of the

The movie invictus portrays a very controversial issue that has been presented throughout history in many ethnic groups and is seen in societies up to these days. The apartheid is clearly pictured in the movie through many of the attitudes and actions that people take towards the other race they live in their day by day. What is more, Mandela constitutes one of the most important figures in South Africa, especially for the black race as he liberated them from the apartheid. From those days Mandela has been recognized worldwide as a major symbol of the rainbow nation; a reality of distinction between the black and the white people and its establishing differe nces.

Many of the contemporary issues in South Africa can easily be associated with the apartheid laws which devastated the country. The people of South Africa struggle day by day to reverse “the most cruel, yet well-crafted,” horrific tactic “of social engineering.” The concept behind apartheid emerged in 1948 when the nationalist party took over government, and the all-white government enforced “racial segregation under a system of legislation” . The central issues stem from 50 years of apartheid include poverty, income inequality, land ownership rates and many other long term affects that still plague the brunt of the South African population while the small white minority still enjoy much of the wealth, most of the land and opportunities

South African heritage and culture is immensely diverse, and consists of many different groups of people who each have their own traditions and beliefs. Having such a diversity of people and cultures is what makes South Africa so unique. In the true sense of the phrase, we are a rainbow nation.